1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vehicle barriers and speed bumps, and more particularly, to an adaptive security and protective barrier and traffic control speed bumps.
2. Prior Art
Concrete blocks of various designs have long been used as security barriers to barricade sensitive areas and buildings or to provide the means to slow down and control traffic for inspection and/or identification checking or other similar security reasons. Such barriers are also used on a segment of a road to form a maze to force vehicles to slow down; to provide the means to prevent vehicles from passing a checkpoint at high speed; and to make it easier for the security personnel to intercept those who refuse to stop for inspection.
The concrete and water filled plastic barriers rely on their weight to generate enough friction force to slow down and eventually stop even a heavily loaded truck. The barriers are also large enough so that in case that the wheels go over them, the bottom surfaces (chassis or other components) of the vehicle would land over the barriers, making it impossible for the vehicle to proceed any further.
Concrete barriers used for traffic control at checkpoints, however, can only be used to slow down the traffic by forming a maze but not to completely close the roadway. This is obviously the case since the concrete barriers are very heavy and can only be moved by cranes. As a result, such security barriers must still allow passage of vehicles, but at lower speeds, and the security personnel must rely on their own speed and firepower to disable the vehicle or its driver, or to drive one of their own vehicles to a position to block the barrier's outlet. Thus, concrete barriers do not provide effective means to control the traffic at checkpoints. Such security barriers are also not safe for the security personnel, relies on their very rapid reaction and proper use of firepower to disable the car or its driver or block its passage by another vehicle. Other shortcomings of such checkpoints include the requirement of a considerable number of security personnel to operate the checkpoint; that the security personnel have to get close to the vehicle for its inspection without the opportunity of utilizing (at least initially) a remotely operated visual inspection tool; and the barriers cannot be used to trap a suspect vehicle for further action. Concrete barriers are also very unsightly and require a considerable amount of time to remove from the site and transport to a storage site.
As barriers to barricade sensitive areas and buildings, concrete blocks are very unsightly; require a considerable amount of time to be transported from storage sites, and require cranes to place them at the desired locations and to remove them once the threat level has been reduced. In addition, access to the building or the area to be protected cannot be completely blocked by concrete barriers since materials and equipment may have to be at times delivered to the barricaded buildings or other vehicles may have to have access to the barricaded buildings.
Speed bumps are also known in the art. Generally, speed bumps are formed with the roadway or placed on top of the roadway to regulate the speed of vehicles crossing over them. The speedbumps are generally low enough for vehicles to safely cross yet high enough to force a vehicle to slow down while crossing. However, different types of vehicles have different thresholds for crossing speedbumps. For example a sports car that is low to the ground can tolerate a much lower speedbump than a utility vehicle or truck can. Also, the height of a speedbump may be sufficient for an intended purpose, such as regulating a speed in front of a school during school hours. However, when such intended purpose changes, such as in front of the school when school is not in session (e.g., at night and on the weekends), the speedbumps continue to regulate the speed for the originally intended purpose.